Creamy Garlic Herb Mushroom Spaghetti

Mushroom spaghetti with a creamy garlic herb sauce? Okay, this is capital L-O-V-E on so many levels.

I know – technically, this probably would have been a better fit for Meatless Monday. It’s a nice way to change up spaghetti and make it something a little more veg-friendly and, um, what’s the word? GAHHHHH?

But when we’re talking about butter and garlic soaked mushrooms tossed with fresh herbs and coated in a creamy sauce all served up on steaming hot pasta – ♡♡♡ – let’s get real. That, my friends, does not need a Meatless Monday. In my world, that can happen any day of the week.

This is not a new conversation around here, but I always feel the need to let you guys know: I haven’t always been a mushroom lover.

Something happened to me a year or two into the food blogging game that made me go from a mushroom h8er 4 lyfe to a Professional Mushroom Eater. I’m, like, 900% sure that that something involved butter and garlic and white wine in a sizzling hot pan that also HAPPENED to contain a few mushrooms? But whatevs.

All that matters is that now I’m on the other side of the fence. I identify with the people of the world who put mushrooms in everything, from enchiladas to sandwiches to date night pasta with goat cheese –> come to think of it, that recipe looks suspiciously similar to this. MOVING ON THO.

Remember when I used bacon fat instead of butter for the sizzling pan of garlic and mushrooms? And then took an ultra close up picture of it for dramatic effect?

Right. That happened.

You guys. I’m going to derail the conversation for a minute because SAGE. I need to talk to you about Sage.

She’s doing so well! So, so well. It’s been just about a month (or more? sometimes it feels like we’ve had her forever) and every day we get to see a little more of her personality, which is, in two words, ULTIMATE NAPPER.

Her favorite activities, depending on the hour, are laying on the deck in the sun, laying on the deck in the shade, or laying on the deck in the half-sun-half-shade. Poor baby doesn’t know that we live in Minnesota, land of the 6 months of miserable winters during which time you absolutely cannot lay on the deck, much less stick one pinky toe into the world outside that patio door. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Okay, but as much as we love her, sometimes we just want the girl to play a little bit.

We put the peanut butter-filled Kong in front of her and she licks it half-heartedly for three seconds before just rolling over to get her belly rubbed. We get her riled up and running around on the furniture (omg please just ignore me) and she’ll run back and forth, like, two times before settling in – head on pillow, obviously – for her next nap. I throw her balls to fetch in the yard and she doesn’t have one tiny ounce of an idea about what to do with them. I honestly think she doesn’t know how to play.

But then, this –>

Last night, we took her to the dog park (the one with the MUD PIT – and yes, you should be silently judging us right now) and she went straight up Wild Girl on us.

WILD. GIRL. One whole hour of Wild Girlness.

Just look at that Wild Girl.

We’re ridiculously proud.

I know this Sage essay – five paragraphs makes an essay, right? – has hardly anything to do with Creamy Garlic Herb Mushroom Spaghetti. I know, and yet.

What else would you really want to do after an hour with Wild Girl at the dog park than to:

come home,

give the dog a bath,

wrap her up like the true baby that she is,

and eat a plateful of creamy, mushroom-loaded spaghetti with plenty of garlic and herbs?

Pasta: Cook the pasta according to package directions. Set aside and toss with a little oil to prevent sticking.

Mushrooms: Melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat. Add one clove of the garlic and saute for a minute until fragrant. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 5-10 minutes, until golden brown and softened. Set aside.

Sauce: Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan and melt again over medium high heat. Add the garlic and saute for a minute until fragrant. Add the flour and herbes de provence. Stir fry for a minute to cook out the flour taste. Add the milk slowly, whisking to incorporate. Let the mixture simmer until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

Assemble: Toss the sauce, pasta, and mushrooms together. Add the olive oil and water as needed to keep the sauce from getting too thick. Stir in the parsley just before serving.

212 Comments (page 1)

This spaghetti looks delicious and I don’t even LIKE mushrooms! But now I’m super hungry for this specific dish. I’m feeling so conflicted right now.
I love how quickly Sage has become such an integral part of your Pinch of Yum family, thank you for sharing these stories about her. Aren’t dogs the best?

Hi =)
I made a milk-free version of your dish, using cashew milk, on Friday and it was absolutely delicious!!! I blended up cashew nuts and topped that up with water and blended again, at a ratio of 1 part nuts to 6 parts water.
I did use butter, but I am sure for the frying part and you could use olive oil or coconut oil and again for the sauce-part at the beginning. I also added a bit of nutmeg to the sauce.

And I should have made more because I was foolish to think that a quarter if the four serving would be enough for me =P It was just so good =) Thank you for the recipe, Lindsay!

Try cashew cream! I’m going into the kitchen to make this recipe now (with half and half because all my kids are home for break and I don’t want to annoy them). But as soon as I can I’m going to try a cashew cream version!!!

GAH! SAGE! She is ADORBS! Yay for puppy mom-hood. It’s THE BEST.
Well, almost. Because there’s THIS. Buttery, mushroomy, pasta noodly goodness that makes this meat-loving human NOT EVEN CARE that there is no meat present. You win.
Pinned!

I love the including real life pics in a recipe post! Makes me feel like I’m reaaally your friend, not just online. (?) idk okay.

But MUSHROOMS. I’m in the same boat as you. Used to be scared of them, now they’re one of my favorite ingredients to use. Have you ever had morels?!?! We just found some wild ones and cooked em up with a little butter and flour. OMG.

I have so much fresh pasta in the fridge right now from a pre-half marathon carb fest where our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. This recipe looks amazing and I used to hate mushrooms too until something happened and now I LOVE them.

I have been following your blog for a few months now and I just had to take a moment with this particular post today. We also rescued our Charlotte around the same time that you got Sage. I was completely laughing out loud (at work) when I read how she likes to lay on your deck (in the sun/in the shade). Charlotte discovered our deck as well and she is in love – I also did not break the news yet that we live in MA and we just had one of the worst winters in anyone’s memory…
Thank you for updating us with Sage action and then throwing in a little pasta number to just round out the day! Cheers!

Love the update on Sage! Sounds like she’s coming along swimingly with you guy’s love and attention. You’re lucky she lets you wrap her up after a bath. All my hound mix does is run around the house and roll around on the couch, the bed, whatever to get everything soaking wet and then wait for her reward cookie.

What a delicious sounding dish, and also a very good looking one, as well. My family and I always prefer to use whole wheat pasta, and we also all love every kind of mushroom. Can you suggest a (type of) mushroom which will give us a lot of that very ‘earthy’ flavor in this dish? In my opinion, plain old ‘Button Mushrooms’ or ‘Crimini Mushrooms’ just won’t do it. What do you think about using “Shitake”, “Porcini”, or “Morrell” mushrooms? Do you think they’d have a bit more of that ‘earthy’ flavor, since that’s what I’m looking for? I’ll definitely make this dish very soon, but I’ll await your reply with regard to the choice of mushrooms.
BTW, your (baby) “Sage” is absolutely adorable!! My family and I also love animals, and we’ve rescued several kitties from our local”Humane Society”. We also took in a few strays who ended up on our doorstep…. starving and homeless. They actually ended up being the most loving and wonderful pets which we’ve ever had. Please dear folks, adopt a pet if you possibly can! They are very grateful to finally have a good and loving home. Those poor creatures have no voice of their own, but we must speak for them, and very loudly!

Thanks for the comment Angela! I haven’t tried Morels but I hear they’re amazing! I would try those if you can get your hands on them! For this recipe I used baby portabella mushrooms which are my favorite and usually really accessible.

Oh how I get the puppy love!! We have a 1 year old morkie and, with the kids at school all day, we spend lots of one-on-one time together. He’s my baby and I spoil him in a ridiculous way. (According to the hubs) With him on my lap as I write this, the only thing that would make the world more perfect would be a big pile of this mushroomey deliciousness!! Love the Bai5 in the photo too. You’ve got me hooked on the coconut:-)

Love the picture of Sage covered in sand–a perfect image of a happy, tired, dirty dog! These updates on her may be my favorite parts of the blog now. 🙂 Our little terrier mix, Maybelle, is the same–the sun basking, the crazed dashing, the flopping on any soft surface afterwards for another nap. And you look at that little snuggly face and think what a bleak future they once had, and now they’ve totally got it made. Thank you for sharing pet adoption so beautifully.

I am a huge fan of anything mushroom, but not a huge fan of a sauce made w/flour (weird I know right? can you say mother sauce, i.e. bechamel?) But Sage? I am totally in love with !! so, so happy for you two! swaddled in the blanket, after her Wild Girl evening? she looks like “this is where I was supposed to be…. heaven” You guys did a great thing rescuing her. Bless you both.

A question on quantity of spaghetti.
In the email I got today around 9 AM, the recipe calls for 4 ounces of spaghetti, and claims to make “four huge servings”.

However, about on this page, the recipe calls for 8 ounces of spaghetti.

Which one is correct? I am guessing 8 ounces, because 2 ounces per person is a reasonable portion.
(Personally, for this quantity of sauce, I would probably cook a whole pound. At my house, 4 ounces of spaghetti is pretty much one serving for a hungry grown-up.)

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